April 2016
Comments

The wife of a
convicted paedophile looked up social care records of his victims
using council computers, a court heard.

Andris Logins
was jailed in March for raping and assaulting boys and girls at a
children's home in Nottinghamshire.

Helen Logins,
52, admitted six offences under the Computer Misuse Act before her
husband went on trial.

Nottingham
Crown Court heard she abused her position as a Nottingham City
Council manager.

She searched
confidential care records and case files of people who had accused
her husband of carrying out the offences in the 1980s, the hearing
was told.

Handing Logins
a 12-month suspended sentence, Judge James Sampson said her actions
were a "gross breach of trust".'Intensely
personal'

He added: "Your
motive was to assist your husband. You couldn't resist
temptation.

"You have now
lost your job, your career, your husband to a 20-year sentence and
I accept that these last three years have been stressful for both
you and your children."

Prosecutor Mary
Prior said Logins "abused her position of trust by accessing the
social care files" and "seeing the most intensely personal
information".

Mitigating,
Sarah Knight, said the defendant had wanted to check whether she
had had any dealings with them.

"Knowing that
her husband was being investigated was, for her, a living
nightmare.

She panicked,"
she added....

Logins, of
Stiles Road, Arnold, was dismissed from her position at Nottingham
City Council in June last year.

The authority
said her actions were "a significant breach of professional and
ethical standards" and it stayed "committed to protecting the
privacy".

ANON Apr
29th, 2016 @ 12:23 PM

1/2...€23m
in redress paid to Magdalene laundry survivors…

Some 624 women
held in Magdalene laundries have to date received a lump sum
payment of more than €23m under a government redress
scheme.

The payments
work out at an average of €36,858.

According to
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, some 807 applications have
been received under the Magdalene Laundries Restorative Justice
Ex-Gratia Scheme.

She said 103
applications were refused, as the women had not been admitted to
one of the 12 specified institutions.

Ms Fitzgerald
said 11 applications were received from women who are now resident
in the US.“Eight of these
women have received their lump- sum payments and the other three
applications were refused as the women had not been admitted to a
relevant institution,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

A number of
women who claim they were used as forced labour in High Park
Magdalene laundry in Dublin, but who have been excluded from the
redress scheme, launched a High Court challenge to the decision
last year.

The basis for
excluding the women was that, although it was accepted they worked
at the High Park Magdalene laundry, they were not admitted to
it.

They had been
admitted to An Grianán Institution, which was on the grounds of the
convent laundry.

The case
followed revelations in the Irish Examiner that evidence that An
Grianán and High Park Magdalene Laundry were “one and the same
thing” was uncovered by the HSE in 2012.

ANON Apr
29th, 2016 @ 12:21 PM

2/2...The
revelation was contained in a memo sent from the then assistant
director of the Children and Family Services, Phil Garland, to the
Department of Children andYouth Affairs
representative on the McAleese committee, Denis O’Sullivan, and
Gordon Jeyes, the national director of the Children and Family
Services at the HSE, on June 26, 2012, while the HSE was examining
the laundries issue as part of the McAleese inquiry.

Mr Garland
points out that the HSE had uncovered evidence that showed “quite
categorically” that An Grianán and High Park Magdalene Laundry were
“one and the same thing”.

However,
despite the revelation, Ms Fitzgerald reiterated the view that An
Grianán “served a different purpose” to High Park Magdalene
laundry, and stated it had already been included Residential
Institutions Redress Board Scheme.

Two other
institutions not previously considered laundries St Mary’s Training
Centres in Stanhope St, Dublin; and Summerhill in Wexford were
included in the redress scheme.

Justice for
Magdalene Research has pointed out that not all residents knew they
were entitled to compensation under the previous redress scheme and
has accused the Government of denying justice to victims of forced
labour.

The group has
also been extremely critical of the legislation brought in last
year to provide survivors with access to a range of primary and
community health services free of charge as recommended in the
Magdalen Commission Report by retired High Court Judge and
president of the Law Reform Commission, Mr Justice John
Quirke.

Justice for
Magdalene Research has said that the provisions do not provide the
women with the same range of drugs and services made available to
Health (Amendment) Act cardholders as promised

ANON Apr
28th, 2016 @ 11:49 AM

A County
Londonderry man who admitted abusing two girls over a seven-year
period from 1973 has been jailed for five years.

Kevin Doherty,
61, from Main Street, Eglinton, was sentenced at Londonderry Crown
Court.

He pleaded
guilty to six charges of indecent assault and four charges of
committing gross indecency with or towards a child.

The victims
said they wanted Doherty "named and shamed".

The pair, who
have automatic life-long anonymity, were in court for sentencing
and spoke after Doherty had been jailed.

They said that
the sentence had given them back their self-esteem and
self-respect.

"We want to
thank the judge for his sensitivity and for his sentencing comments
which we believe are aimed at protecting vulnerable children from
the type of sexual abuse we endured.

"We would also
encourage other abused people who are suffering in silence, like we
did for so long, to report their abuse to the
authorities."

The court heard
that Doherty's crimes began when he was 18 and the victims were
aged six and 16.

When he abused
his youngest victim over a prolonged period of time, the court was
told that he gave her sweets and instructed her to say
nothing.

The court heard
that the abuse came to light at a meeting in a local parochial
house in August 2013, which was attended by one of the victims,
Doherty and by a local priest.

After the
meeting one of the abused women went to the police, accompanied by
a member of the Derry Diocesan Safeguarding team, and reported her
abuse to the police.

In sentencing,
the judge said the victims had been subjected to callous and
shameful abuse.

He said the
maximum sentence of two years, which was in force at the time of
the abuse, was "clearly inadequate and a five-year jail sentence is
both just and appropriate".

He added that
while Doherty deserves some credit by pleading guilty, it took the
accused two years to admit his guilt to offences he had initially
denied.

The judge said
it was clear from victim impact reports that both women still
suffered the effects of the abuse.

He said he was
also aware that four of Doherty's five children had refused to have
any contact with him since he admitted the offences last
January.

Doherty was
sentenced to five years in jail, with two years on probation after
his prison release.

He is also
banned to associating with children younger than 16 for an
indefinite period and that he must live at an address approved by
social services after his release from prison.

ANON Apr
27th, 2016 @ 12:15 PM

Cork man who
raped his niece is jailed for four years…

Victim was aged
between eight and thirteen years at the time of the
offences

A Cork man who
raped and sexually assaulted his niece has been jailed for four
years at the Central Criminal Court.

Last month the
55-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s
anonymity, was found guilty of two counts of rape and one count of
indecent assault of the girl, at the accused man’s home between
1977 and 1985.

He had pleaded
not guilty to the charges.

The victim, a
daughter of the accused’s older sister, was aged between eight and
thirteen years at the time of the offences.

Ms Justice
Isobel Kennedy sentenced the man to ten years in prison with six
years suspended for the two rape offences and six years in prison
with four years suspended for the indecent assault
offence.

All sentences
are to run concurrently.

The man, who
has no previous convictions, was declared a sex
offender.

The judge said
the complainant had read her victim impact report with “great
dignity.”

The court heard
that the accused had a number of medical issues .

Ms Justice
Kennedy said she had carefully considered the man’s medical
conditions and how a custodial sentence “would prove difficult for
him.”

However she
said having taken into consideration all the evidence, a custodial
sentence was necessary.

The judge said
the aggravating factors included the abuse of trust, threats made
to the child as she was at the time and its effect on the injured
party.

The mitigating
factors included that the man suffered from ill health and how a
custodial sentence would be more difficult for him,. as well as the
fact that he was aged between 16 and 21 years of age at the time of
the offences.

Churches in
South America are buzzing with priests who were transferred there
from places like U.S. and U.K. But many of these priests have a
dark, unknown past.

A lot has
changed in U.S. and U.K. in the past several decades. As society
distances itself from the hold of religious institutions, the power
of clerical authorities has waned in the developed countries. This
has weaved new patterns on our social fabric, but one undeniably
positive thing to come out of this change was that priests and
religious figures are no longer immune to the law of the
land.

After
exhaustive investigations revealed that priests often targeted
vulnerable children in the church, authorities started to take
action and more priests were made to pay for the crimes. This
policy means that churches no longer welcome priests accused of
molestation.

So where do
these priests go?

The Catholic
Church, if it cannot protect its priests in developed countries,
conveniently sends them to places where they will not have to face
the consequences of their actions.

A recent report
by GlobalPost sheds light on this chilling new trend of the
Catholic Church sending accused priests to places like Peru and
Brazil.

One such priest
is the Rev. Jan Van Dael, 76, a Belgian living in Caucaia, Brazil,
who is being investigated by the Brazilian and Belgian authorities
on a plethora of child abuse allegations.

But in the
northeastern Brazilian city where he lives, Van Dael enjoys a
fairly relaxed life. There are no authorities ousting him from his
position and taking him into custody, no TV channel hogging him all
day.

Van Dael, under
his charity, distributes soup to locals and is allowed to be in
dangerous proximity to children. During the interview with
GlobalPost, he reached out to touch a child's hair, affectionately
saying that he reminds him of a boy he had in his house in Rio de
Janeiro. Van Dael's room is lined with photos of
children.

These are all
the perks of the retirement plan offered by the Catholic Church to
priests accused of rape and abuse. Spend a lifetime preying on
children, before the church sends you off to a place where no one
questions your morals.

The horrific
thing is, the Catholic Church uses this as a tried and true
method.

A victim of
clergy sex abuse will not cooperate with a Church review because
"bullying and silencing" were not in the terms of
reference.

Rev Graham
Sawyer announced his decision in a letter to Dame Moira Gibb, who
chairs an independent review of how the Church of England handled
allegations made against Peter Ball, former Bishop of
Lewes.

Ball, now 84,
was jailed in October for abuses against teenagers and young men in
the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Sawyer, who
waived his right to anonymity before Ball's trial, said he objected
because his alleged treatment by current senior Church officials
would not be covered in the inquiry.

In the letter,
seen by the BBC, Sawyer writes: "I realise that decisions over
terms of reference are not your prerogative.Advertisement

"Nevertheless,
that there has clearly been resistance to suggestions of them
specifically mentioning bullying, vilification and silencing, sends
a worrying but sadly very predictable signal from the Church of
England at its very highest levels that these systemically vital
matters are not going to be addressed with the fundamental
importance they deserve.

"Please inform
Archbishop Welby that I therefore decline to give evidence to the
review he has established because of the failure of the terms of
reference to be amended to include bullying and silencing with a
plea for him personally to reconsider this."

Sawyer rejected
a meeting with the Church's safeguarding officer, Graham Tilby,
according to the BBC.

A spokeswoman
said the Church offered an "unreserved apology to all the
survivors".

"Archbishop
Justin has publicly said it is a matter of deep shame and regret
that a bishop in the Church of England committed these offences and
there are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and the
systematic abuse of trust perpetrated by Peter Ball over
decades.

"The Review,
which started in February and is expected to last a year, will
provide the Church as a whole with an opportunity to learn lessons
which will improve our safeguarding practice and
policy."

A priest
risks excommunication if he divulges what was said to him in
confession, Father Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer from the Washington
D.C. area, told claimants’ lawyer Geoff Budden in the Mount Cashel
civil trial.

The seal means
that nothing the confessor says in confession can be revealed in
any way.

“(The priest)
cannot go to the archbishop, to anybody, even to the Pope, and say,
‘This boy came to me and confessed sexual abuse,’” Doyle told the
court. “He has to take a very indirect route if he is going to deal
with this. It is possible and it can and should be
done.”

The John Doe
lawsuit against the RC Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s seeks
compensation and involves four test cases that claim the church
should be held liable for the physical and sexual abuse of boys at
the orphanage by certain Christian Brothers during the period of
the late 1940s to early 1960s. The test cases represent about 60
claimants in the case being pursued by Budden and
Associates.

The church
contends it did not run the orphanage, and therefore is not
responsible for actions there of the lay order Christian
Brothers.

Doyle said the
most ordinary option taken by priests being told of abuse has been
to tell the confessor to avoid the situation and to take
penance.

Another option
— in the case of a boy telling a priest in confession about being
abused at an institution — would be for a priest to advise the boy
to go to an authority at the institution and reveal what
happened.

But he said,
the priest could also ask to meet with the boy outside confession,
where the boy could reveal the same information.

The priest
could have taken the option of telling the archbishop in a vague
way — one that does not give away the confessor — that he heard of
something going on, Doyle suggested.

“What he could
do … would be to say, ‘Archbishop, I have received some information
some bad or inappropriate things are happening between some of the
Brothers and some of the boys,’ and assume the archbishop is going
to pick up on that,” Doyle said.

“That’s
dangerous ground if you reveal anything. You may be protecting the
boys in the long run, but your skin is involved, too.”

The court
previously heard testimony from former residents about abuse at the
orphanage being told to a priest in confession.

Doyle allowed
in cross-examination by Susan Adam Metzler, a lawyer for the
Episcopal Corp., that the archbishop did not manage the day-to-day
operations of

ANON Apr
22nd, 2016 @ 01:12 PM

1/2…72-year-old jailed for
four years for ‘horrific abuse’ of granddaughter, aged
9…

A 72-year-old
man made his granddaughter act out scenes from internet pornography
with him, a court has heard.

The case was at
the high end of the scale, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said yesterday,
as he imposed a seven-year jail term, with the last three years
suspended.

The sexual
offender cannot be named as it would identify the
child.

The accused was
convicted last November. Yesterday Christopher Meehan, defending,
said the accused did not accept the jury’s verdict.

Judge Ó
Donnabháin said the jury saw the girl give her evidence by video
link to Cork Circuit Criminal Court and they believed her “because
her evidence was powerful and true.”

“The
complainant was subjected on a repeated basis to dreadful, horrific
abuse,” he said.

“You were
showing her graphic abuse from your own store of material and
subjected to this breach of trust by you.

“This was an
extremely loving, caring child that you abused.

She was sent
down to you because your wife had died and to comfort and help
you.

And you abused
her in this base way.

“I agreed for
once with the DPP, these offences were very much at the higher end
of the scale, showing the child of this age pornographic videos and
getting her to try to act them out is really dreadful.”

ANON Apr
22nd, 2016 @ 01:09 PM

2/2...Judge
Ó Donnabháin said the accused had met the case with absolute and
dogged determination and an absence of remorse.

The victim said
she was most hurt by the fact that her grandfather knew what he had
done but still put her through having to give evidence in the trial
and he did not tell the truth.

Judge Ó
Donnabháin said: “He destroyed her innocence. He may have done that
but he cannot deny her her happiness.”

There was
evidence during the trial that he also sexually assaulted the child
while he watched Coronation Street and on another occasion got her
to play strip poker with him.The accused had
denied all four charges of sexually assaulting the nine-year-old in
West Cork. Asked by investigating gardaí why she would have made
the claims if they were untrue, the accused said the girl was being
put up to it for money because her parents had financial
trouble.

Judge Seán Ó
Donnabháin said of the injured party, who gave her evidence by
video from a room separate from the courtroom: “I thought she was
very convincing and very well grounded and to be absolutely
believed on everything she said.”

Mr Meehan gave
a detailed account of the defendant’s poor health, which he said
made imprisonment worse for him. He also said the accused continued
to maintain his innocence.

The accused has
been in custody since the jury found him guilty in
November.Judge Ó
Donnabháin backdated the sentence to that date.

ANON Apr
22nd, 2016 @ 01:06 PM

Limerick
woman takes action against Bishop Casey…

Civil
proceedings are part of four cases regarding members of clergy in
the diocese.

A Limerick
woman has initiated civil proceedings in the High Court against
Bishop Eamon Casey, among four cases regarding various members of
the clergy in the Limerick diocese over several
decades.

The proceedings
against Bishop Casey, now 88, and living in a nursing home in Co
Clare, are listed among four sets of civil proceedings in relation
to at least two priests, regarding a number of claims in the
Limerick diocese.

A summons has
been issued on both Bishop Casey, and the Bishop of
Limerick,

Dr Brendan
Leahy in his representative capacity as the current head of the
diocese.

One of the
cases is being taken by a Limerick woman against Bishop Casey, who
was based in Limerick from 1955 to 1960, when he served at St
John’s Cathedral as curate.

Records show
that Bishop Leahy, on behalf of the diocese, has entered an
appearance in the case but has not yet filed a
defence.

While the
Limerick diocese is being represented in this case by Leahy &
Partner solicitors in Limerick, Bishop Casey does not have any
legal representation to date, according to court
correspondence.

A number of
legal firms are representing the four plaintiffs. The series of
proceedings were initiated last November, with the latter two
proceedings entered this February.

Dr Leahy is
also listed in a purely representative capacity as current head of
the diocese in three other sets of proceedings.

Another civil
case entered in the High Court in November is being taken by a man
against the diocese and a named priest who once served in a west
Limerick parish

ANON Apr
21st, 2016 @ 02:08 PM

1//2...'Staggering' Rise In
Child Abuse Images Detected

The internet
watchdog finds record numbers of child sex abuse images after being
given more search powers by the government.

Child sex abuse
images are increasingly being found and removedRecord numbers
of web pages containing child sexual abuse images are being
detected following a dramatic spike in reports, an internet
watchdog reveals.

The Internet
Watch Foundation identified and took down more than 68,000 sites
containing child sex abuse last year a rise of 118% on 2014, and
more than 400% on 2013.

Pages
containing child sexual abuse imagery were recorded by the
organisation at a rate of nearly 200 every day.

In October
action was taken on a record-breaking 941 web pages in a single
day.

Each confirmed
report could involve one or 1,000 images.

The IWF said
the 'staggering' figures follow the decision to give it more powers
in 2014 to allow its analysts to search for abuse imagery, in
addition to handling notifications from members of the
public.

"By being
allowed to actively search for these hideous images of children,
we've seen a dramatic increase in the sheer number of illegal
images and videos that we've been able to remove from the
internet."

All but 0.2% of
the offending content is produced outside the UK

ANON Apr
21st, 2016 @ 02:06 PM

2/2The IWF
annual report revealed:

:: More than
two thirds of victims were assessed as 10 or under, while 1,788 -
or 3% were two or under.

:: A third of
images were in Category A, which covers rape or sexual torture of
children.

:: The UK hosts
0.2% of the global total of online child sexual abuse content, with
action taken on 135 web pages hosting images and videos in this
country.

The study also
set out trends in the techniques used by offenders to evade
detection.Last year, for
the first time, experts observed that some "hidden services" on the
section of the internet known as the dark web were regularly
changing web addresses.

The report
said: "Child sexual abuse websites on the open web regularly do
this to try to stop being found. But this was the first time we'd
seen it routinely done by hidden services."

The IWF was
established in 1996 and is funded by the EU and the online
industry.

An NSPCC
spokesman said: "Each of these images is a crime scene and behind
each crime scene is a victim; it is horrifying that so much of the
imagery features the rape or torture of very young children, the
worst category possible.

"The trade in
child abuse imagery is a borderless crime and global efforts to
tackle it must be a priority."

Writing in the
report, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "This has been a hugely
important year for those at the front of our global efforts against
the crime of the taking and sharing of images depicting the sexual
abuse of children."

Mohammad
Arshad, who found his vulnerable victims on sites such as Facebook,
had an "obsession" with targeting young girls.

A former
trainee police officer has been jailed for rape and other sex
crimes against underage girls after "harvesting" young victims from
social media.

Mohammad
Arshad, from Luton, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a month
after he was convicted of 17 offences against 12 victims as young
as 13.

The 35-year-old
was a trainee police officer between April and October 2014, but
was suspended when a mother of one of his victims came
forward.

Arshad was
"dangerous" and had abused his position in the police, St Albans
Crown Court heard.

He groomed
vulnerable girls through Facebook, WhatsApp and BlackBerry
Messenger, sometimes lying about his age and gaining their trust by
saying he was a police officer.

He had tried to
befriend the girls, sometimes offering them cigarettes and alcohol,
before later asking them to perform sexual acts in exchange for
money. He was found to have the details of hundreds of
girls.

In one example,
he asked a girl to come with him in his car before forcing her into
the back seat and raping her.

Some of his
victims described being taken advantage of, and feeling "physically
sick" and "upset" when they re-read the messages in victim
statements.

One said: "He
abused my childhood and all the other girls trust and hurt them by
trying to be our friend."

Arshad was
convicted of nine counts of causing a child to engage in sexual
activity, three of sexual activity with a child and two of meeting
a child following sexual grooming.

He was also
found guilty of one count of rape, causing a child to watch a
sexual act and paying for the sexual services of a
child.

Judge John
Carol, jailing Arshad for 15 years with an eight-year extended
licensee period, said he was "obsessed with turning as many
contacts with these young girls as possible into sexual
encounters."

He said he
rejected the defendant's claim that he had not known that his
victims were underage, adding: "You became a honeypot surrounded by
young girls."

Arshad's lawyer
said that her client was "ashamed" of his behavior and added that
police found no evidence he had an "obsession with
children."

ANON Apr
16th, 2016 @ 12:53 PM

Trainee
vicar jailed for raping teenage girls…

A trainee vicar
who groomed and raped two teenage girls he befriended at religious
summer camps has been jailed for 15 years.

Timothy Storey,
35, a former church youth leader, bombarded his victims with sex
texts and social media messages to manipulate them into meeting
him.

One was later
attacked at his Oxford home after he took her to a concert and
plied her with alcohol.

He used his
respectable position as a youth leader to gain the second victim's
trust, and sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions between
2008 and 2009.

Judge Philip
Katz QC said Storey's "insidious" behavior meant he was a serious
danger to the public and ordered he serve an extended period of
four years on licensee on top of his 15-year custodial
sentence.

The two women
decided to come forward and tell police about their ordeals after
Storey was convicted in May 2014 of grooming girls aged 10 to 16
and encouraging them to perform sexual acts via social
media.

Storey was
found guilty of three counts of rape and one of assault by
penetration in February following a retrial at London's Woolwich
Crown Court and was jailed at the same court on
Friday.

Storey,
formerly of Packham Grove in Packham, south London, showed no
emotion as the judge passed sentence.

ANON Apr
16th, 2016 @ 12:51 PM

Paedophile
obsessed with schoolgirls avoids prison over child
porn…

A Co Antrim man
with a self-confessed unhealthy interest in schoolgirls has been
placed on probation after child porn was found on his computer
equipment.

Gerard Todd,
from Dickeytown in Ballyclare, was placed on probation for three
years after he admitted possessing 28 indecent images of
children.

The
55-year-old's home was searched by police on February 13, 2013 and
two laptops were seized.

The images were
discovered after the computers were forensically
searched.

Prosecutor
Simon Jenkins told Belfast Crown Court that when Todd was
interviewed about the images he admitted using the laptops to
search for and view pornographic images of children.

He further
admitted having an "unhealthy interest in
schoolgirls".

Mr Jenkins also
spoke of the defendant's "relevant record" as an "aggravating
factor in the case".

In 1997 Todd
was charged with indecent behavior after he parked close to a
school bus and was observed with his hands down his
trousers.

And in 2013 he
was charged with the theft of a schoolgirl's gym bag, which he
stole from outside an Asda store in Ballyclare.

A defence
barrister spoke of the "relatively modest" amount of images located
on the laptops, revealed they were still pictures as opposed to
movies, and said that a "majority" of the images were in the least
serious category.

Telling Todd
that "such behavior simply cannot be tolerated", Judge Gordon Kerr
QC said that these images "can only come about because of the abuse
of children who are abused in the most serious way".

Placing Todd
under three years' probation, the judge also ordered the defendant
to complete a sexual offenders programme.

A former school
caretaker who tricked a young and "vulnerable" girl into performing
a sex act on the pretence of a game has been given a two-year jail
sentence.

Sentencing
60-year-old Mark Gerard Cole, Newry Crown Court Judge Kevin
Finnegan QC said he hoped the end of the case would "give some
measure of closure" to the paedophile's victim, a woman now in her
20s.

He also ordered
the defendant to spend three years on probation after his
release.

At an earlier
hearing, Cole, originally from Thomas Street in Warrenpoint but
whose address was given as c/o Magilligan prison, pleaded guilty to
10 counts of indecent assault against his victim on dates between
July 1997 and July 2001, when she would have been between four and
seven years old.

Opening the
case, prosecuting lawyer Fiona O'Kane revealed how the victim
"gained the fortitude to come forward" in December 2014 after
reading in the Press how her tormentor had been jailed for sexually
abusing three other girls.

The previous
month, Cole was handed a five-year sentence, with two years to be
spent in jail and three on probation, after he pleaded guilty to 19
counts of indecent assault on various dates between May 30, 1990
and June 30, 1999.

Cole, who was a
caretaker at St Mark's High School in Warrenpoint, admitted 15
offences in relation to one victim, three counts in relation to a
second victim and a single charge in relation to a third. In court
yesterday, Mrs O'Kane said that while she was at pains to avoid
minimising the old cases, the abuse carried out previously was "not
as grave" as the latest crime.

ANON Apr
16th, 2016 @ 12:46 PM

2/2...The
lawyer described how Cole's latest "extremely young and vulnerable"
victim had to endure what he told her was a game but which she now
realises was oral sex.

Arrested
following the revelations, Cole confessed during police interviews
and subsequently pleaded guilty when he was first
arraigned.

Mrs O'Kane
submitted that while she accepted the defendant was assessed as
being at a medium risk of reoffending, he had caused a "high
degree" of harm to his victim, and that his culpability was also
high in that the offences represented a serious breach of
trust.

Defence
barrister Kevin Magill told the court that Cole had expressed
"genuine remorse and empathy" for his victim and that the main
feature to take into account was the "totality principle",
referring to the sentence that would have been passed had this case
been dealt with at the same time as the previous one.

Conceding that
it would be "foolish" to suggest a heavier sentence would not have
been passed, the lawyer revealed that had it not been for the fresh
allegations, Cole would have been freed last November.

He adding that
the defendant wanted "to do everything that's required of him" so
he can attempt to rebuild his life.

As well as the
jail term, which Judge Finnegan said was a consecutive sentence,
Cole was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years
and given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

ANON Apr
14th, 2016 @ 01:52 PM

1/2...Children left in care
homes after abuse claims…

The head of the
State’s child protection agency, Tusla, has confirmed that children
are left in foster homes where abuse allegations have surfaced,
insisting that removing them would be worse.

Tusla chief
executive Fred McBride made his comments yesterday in the wake of
the latest abuse allegations involving foster children in the west
of Ireland, which were uncovered by RTÉ’s Investigations
Unit.

Mr McBride said
children would only be removed from the foster home “as a last
resort”, claiming that removing them from the home would
significantly add to their trauma.

He said the
policy is to remove the abuse and, if possible, the abuser from the
situation.

“We have to be
careful because simply removing young people or children from a
situation where there may be abuse can cause its own difficulties,”
Mr McBride told RTÉ radio.

“Young people
are often very traumatised after being removed from their foster
case. We must focus much more on removing the abuse and where
possible the abuser.

“If removed,
the child will often see it as a punishment and it can add
significantly to their suffering. We must be very careful not to
make the situation worse.

“Let’s make no
mistake, separation and loss causes huge trauma for children, many
of whom have already suffered separation and loss.

All foster
children are visited on a regular basis and their views are
ascertained. They want the abuse to go away but they do not want to
be removed,” said Mr McBride.

ANON Apr
14th, 2016 @ 01:49 PM

2/2...Asked
about the foster home in question, Mr McBride said there are no
foster children there at present and it is not being used in any
way by Tusla.

Mr McBride said
the boy in question, ‘Daniel’, is still in contact with the home
and visits it regularly.

He said if
there is clear evidence that no risk is posed to the children, then
removing them from the home has to be a last resort.

Great care has
to be taken before such a decision is made, he said.

“By listening
to children, we know they do not want to be separated from their
families, or their foster families, even where abuse occurs,” he
said.

Mr McBride
refused to be drawn into the specific detail of the latest case,
but insisted that his approach to leaving children in a home where
allegations exist is in line with child protection
law.

Mr McBride said
individual cases are assessed and dealt with on a proportionate
basis.

In relation to
Daniel’s case, Mr McBride said the boy is now receiving an
aftercare service which is monitored regularly. “We monitor all
children in foster care on a regular basis and this case would have
been no different.

There are
visits from social workers who contact the children. The monitoring
would be proportionate to the level of risk,” he said.

“There are a
number of risks in foster care, as there are in any
family.”

Asked how
children could be left in the home when the HSE considered a 2007
allegation as credible, Mr McBride said: “We have an absolute duty
to see children get individualised care plans, risk assessments
where appropriate.”

“Two different
children in the same home could have different needs. Children in
foster care are subject to regularly statutory reviews and
assessments,” he added.

ANON Apr
14th, 2016 @ 01:47 PM

Agencies
demand inquiry after claims of children left in foster care despite
allegations of sexual abuse…

Several
agencies charged with representing vulnerable children and young
adults in State care have demanded an independent inquiry into
allegations that children were left in foster care settings despite
allegations of sexual abuse.

Tusla confirmed
it is referring its handling of the latest case to an independent
review panel for adjudicating.

Following
reports in the Irish Examiner about the case of an intellectually
disable young woman in a Waterford foster home, the government
announced the establishment of a commission of
inquiry.

Sources last
night indicated the inquiry could be expanded to examine these new
allegations.

Fred McBride,
chief executive of Tusla the Child and Family Agency said it does
not have the money necessary to spend on protecting children and
providing family support.

Jennifer
Gargan, director of advocacy group EPIC, criticised Tusla for
failing to provide about one in 10 foster carers with a link social
worker.

The ISPCC
called for a full independent investigation of the fresh
allegations highlighted by the RTÉ Investigations
Unit.

Chief executive
Grainia Long said: “It is paramount that the voices of children are
heard, listened to, and acted upon. It is essential, for example,
that where concerns exist regarding a child in a foster care
setting, all children in that setting are met with and any concerns
explored.”

Waterford Fine
Gael TD John Deasy, who was to the fore of highlighting the case of
‘Grace’, said the scope of the investigation into the allegations
of abuse at the foster home now needs to be widened.

James Reilly,
the acting children’s minister, said through a spokesman last night
that he was not informed by Tusla of the latest allegations until
Monday.

Concerns were
first raised in 2007 when a young girl in respite care with a
foster family alleged she had been abused by a then 18-year-old
member of that family.

HSE inquiries
found the girl’s claims to be “credible”, but it was decided two
other foster children could remain with the family and that the
alleged abuser was not to have unsupervised contact with
them.

ANON Apr
14th, 2016 @ 01:44 PM

'Third of
Irish children living in deprivation'….

Almost a third
of all Irish children live in deprived households, a new UNICEF
study has shown.

The new report,
which examines Ireland among 40 other OECD countries, states that
children are now the most neglected demographic in Irish
society.

Ireland
currently has the fourth worst income inequality in the EU, with an
income gap of over 76pc.

It places this
country just below the UK, Belgium and Bulgaria.

However,
Ireland's gap narrows to just over 41pc once social protection
payments are made. These payments are known as social
transfers.

But UNICEF says
this gap is unsustainable and leaves many families "living on the
edge".

Households are
deemed deprived if they cannot afford at least three items from a
list of essential items, as defined by the EU.

Items on the
list include housing, heating, utility bills and a protein meal
every second day.

Other
essentials are the ability to face unexpected expenses, a holiday,
a phone, a TV, a washing machine or a car.

Peter Power,
Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland, said: "100 years ago this
month, the Proclamation proclaimed to cherish all Irish children
equally."

"This report
demonstrates that as a demographic group Irish children are falling
behind other sections of society."

Writing in the
Irish Independent, Mr Power added: "The message is stark: as
inequality increases, wealthy nations of the world are failing
their most vulnerable children," he said.

"Those with the
least ability to narrow the gaps are being allowed to fall furthest
behind."

UNICEF has
urged the incoming government to act on the findings, saying that
all other groups in Irish society were better protected during the
economic collapse than children.

The body also
called for protection of incomes of households with the poorest
children, the improvement of educational achievements of
disadvantaged learners and the promotion of healthy lifestyles for
all children and young people.

ANON Apr
13th, 2016 @ 12:24 PM

Fresh case
of alleged foster sex abuse…

Children in a
foster home in the West of Ireland were left in the care of a
foster family for several years, despite serious allegations of
sexual abuse arising against one family member.

In a story
which has striking similarities to the case of “Grace”, who was
subjected to savage rape and abuse for 20 years in a foster home in
Waterford, the foster family at the centre of this case has, until
recently, continued to provide some support services.

The details of
the fresh allegations were revealed in an RTÉ Investigations Unit
report, Failure to Foster Care, which was broadcast last
night.

The report
claimed that some HSE staff were aware of the allegations for a
number of years, despite HSE director general Tony O’Brien claiming
at the Public Accounts Committee in February that he was unaware of
any other cases like this.

Up to recently,
the foster family at the centre of this case continued to provide
some support services.

The case
involves a foster family this time in the West of Ireland where
children were left in the family’s care despite serious allegations
of sexual abuse against one family member. In May 2007, a young
girl in respite care with the family alleged she had been abused by
a then 18-year-old member of the family.

Following an
investigation, the HSE assessed the disclosure by the child as
‘credible’.

Last April,
RTÉ’s Investigations Unit revealed the full extent of the story of
a young woman in foster care now known by the pseudonym ‘Grace’.
Recent reports in the Irish Examiner about the ‘Grace’ case led to
the Government deciding to establish a Commission of
Inquiry.

‘Grace’, who
has profound intellectual disabilities, was left in a foster home
in Waterford for almost 20 years despite a succession of sexual
abuse allegations..

The inquiry
into historical sex abuse at the former Kincora boys' home in east
Belfast has been dealt a second blow in as many days after another
key witness yesterday vowed he would not testify at the
probe.

Former Army
captain Colin Wallace spoke out after another witness, Roy Garland,
said he would not speak at the Historical Institutional Abuse
inquiry (HIA) in Banbridge.

Both men feel
it does not have enough power to get answers and were disappointed
by a High Court ruling that barred a judicial review of Secretary
of State Theresa Villiers' decision not to refer Kincora to the
more powerful London-based Goddard Inquiry.

Mr Wallace
previously told this newspaper that with witnesses ageing every
day, time was quickly running out to get to the truth of what
really happened at Kincora."Is the sexual
abuse of children in London really more significant than the sexual
abuse of children in Northern Ireland?" he asked.

An unknown
number of children were abused at the east Belfast boys' home,
which operated from 1958 until 1980.

In 1981, three
senior care staff were jailed for abusing

11 boys, but
allegations of a wider ring with links to the political
establishment have persisted ever since.

Victims would
like to see the Kincora allegations examined by the London-based
Goddard Inquiry which has the power to compel witnesses to attend,
unlike the HIA.

Mr Wallace, who
was sacked from the Army after attempting to expose the scandal in
1974, said that other witnesses possibly in a position to shed
light on events at the notorious home were considering their
positions.

"Sadly, in the
current circumstances, I feel that no useful purpose would be
served by my participation in the HIA," he added.

"However, I am
sure that other members of the security forces, including the
intelligence services, who have knowledge of child abuse in
Northern Ireland during the relevant period, will make up their own
minds about whether or not they should participate in the
inquiry."

ANON Apr
13th, 2016 @ 12:17 PM

2/2..Mr
Wallace said the High Court judgment to refuse a victim the
opportunity to take a judicial review against the Government's
decision had been a "bitter blow to a great many
people".

"The harsh
reality is that the Government has seen fit to provide the HIA with
significantly less powers than the Goddard Inquiry, yet it has
provided no cogent reason for why this difference is necessary," he
added.

"That appears
to me to be manifestly unfair. This discrepancy is all the more
significant bearing in mind the total failure of previous inquiries
to uncover the full facts.

"I have no
doubt whatsoever that the members of the HIA are totally committed
to establishing the truth about what occurred in
Kincora.

But I do not
believe that this can be achieved without the same legal powers as
the Goddard Inquiry. Commitment by itself does not provide
answers."

Mr Wallace
contrasted the Government's approach to the Saville Tribunal, which
examined the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry and at which he gave
evidence, to its approach to Kincora, describing the attitudes as
wholly different.

"I fully accept
that most of the really sensitive intelligence information about
Kincora and related matters will have been destroyed years ago,"
the former soldier added. "But that should not preclude the HIA
from having the powers to compel disclosure or compel the
attendance of witnesses.

"Also, having
been involved in the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday I am very
conscious that the Government's approach to that inquiry was
strikingly different.

Even the former
Prime Minister, Edward Heath, was required to attend, give evidence
and be cross-examined."

ANON Apr
13th, 2016 @ 12:13 PM

1/2...Expert
calls for new agency to investigate abuse claims…

Child
protection bodies have expressed concern about revelations a number
of children were left in a foster home despite serious allegations
of sexual abuse against one family member.

The case
relates to a number of children who were being cared for in the
home in the west of Ireland over several years.

RTÉ's
Investigations Unit has discovered concerns were first raised in
2007 when a young girl in respite care with a foster family alleged
she had been abused by a then 18-year-old member of that
family.

Health Service
Executive inquiries found the girl’s claims to be "credible" - but
it was decided that two other foster children could remain with the
family and the alleged abuser was not to have unsupervised contact
with them.

RTÉ has also
learned that four years later one of these two children also
alleged she was sexually abused by the same family
member.

She was removed
from the home and it was decided the third child, a boy, should
also be moved to a new placement.

It was almost a
year before that happened and last year the boy was allowed to
return to the same foster home - where he continued to receive
part-time support until recently.

ANON Apr
13th, 2016 @ 12:11 PM

2/2...In
light of the revelations, children's charity Barnardos and EPIC, an
organisation advocating for young people in State care, called for
the establishment of an independent and permanent statutory body to
investigate cases of this nature.

Speaking on
RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Barnardos Chief Executive Fergus Finlay said
the outgoing government promised a transparent judicial inquiry
into allegations of abuse at a Waterford foster home.

Last year it
was revealed a young woman with profound intellectual disabilities
was left in a home in the Waterford area for almost 20 years
despite a succession of sexual abuse allegations.

Mr Finlay said
there is still no terms of reference for this inquiry and already
there is another abuse case to be investigated.

He added that
nothing is ever going to change unless "we find out how and why
these things happen".

Child agency
Tusla does not have the money necessary to spend on protecting
children and providing family support, he said.

Director of
EPIC Jennifer Gargan also criticised Tusla for failing to provide
about one in ten foster carers with a link social worker

ANON Apr
12th, 2016 @ 03:33 PM

1/2Key
Kincora witness 'won't testify at probe' claiming abuse inquiry
will not have power to get to the truth…

A key witness
in the Kincora child abuse scandal says he will not give evidence
to the Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern
Ireland.

Roy Garland has
claimed the Banbridge-based Hart Inquiry cannot find the answers
for generations of victims who suffered abuse at Kincora Boys Home
in east Belfast because it does not have the power to compel
witnesses to give evidence.

Last week the
High Court refused an application by a Kincora victim for a
judicial review of Secretary of State Theresa Villier's decision
not to include the former home in the more powerful UK-wide Goddard
inquiry.

Mr Garland said
the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry (HIA) asked him to
attend and he agreed on the premise it was a "serious inquiry".
Now, after voicing disappointment at the refusal to include Kincora
in the Goddard inquiry,

Mr Garland said
he will not give evidence to the HIA.

Mr Garland has
claimed MI5 previously blocked attempts to uncover the truth around
the extent of the abuse of young boys that took place at
Kincora.

He became aware
that William McGrath, a former house master a Kincora was engaging
in child abuse and had been prepared to give evidence to the
Goddard inquiry.

That probe will
investigate whether public bodies, such as the police, NHS and BBC,
failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual
abuse.McGrath was jailed in 1980 for paedophile activities at the
home.

ANON Apr
12th, 2016 @ 03:27 PM

Inquiry into
former Coventry children's home abuse…

Todd, left, and
Kenneth Owen were convicted for carrying out "grotesque" abuse on
children in An inquiry into historical abuse at a former city
council-run children's home in Coventry has been
announced.

Kenneth Owen
and Alan Todd, both 70, who worked at Wisteria Lodge in the 1980s,
were jailed in February.

Judge Alan
Parker said the pair carried out "grotesque" abuse of children at
the home.

The city's
Safeguarding Children Board will examine why complaints about the
home, which has been knocked down, were not acted upon for many
years.Board chair
Janet Mokades said: "This is not an inquiry that anyone has told us
we have to do.

"We're doing it
because it is the right thing to do, because children who are now
adults deserve it - and because it will help us to make things
safe."

Todd, from
Stretton-under-Fosse in Warwickshire, was jailed for eight years
and two months after being convicted of six indecent assault and
five cruelty charges.

Owen, from
Dickon Hill Road in Boston in Lincolnshire, was given a prison
sentence of four years and four months after being found guilty of
five cruelty charges.

A Coventry City
Council spokesman has previously apologised to the
victims.

"These crimes
happened a number of years ago and the safeguards we have in place
now make it a priority for the voice of the child or young person
to be heard," they said.

West Midlands
Police has previously admitted it did not properly investigate a
victim's account of sex abuse at children's homes.

It meant two
alleged perpetrators died before they could be
prosecuted.

"Sarah" lived
at Wisteria Lodge in the 1980s

The force has
upheld a complaint made by the victim, who has asked to be called
Sarah, and has apologised. It has said at least one would have been
charged.

The victim has
said the abuse at homes in Coventry in the 1980s was "horrendous",
but added she was encouraged by the change in police
investigations.

ANON Apr
11th, 2016 @ 11:25 PM

1/2...Met
chief meets Lord Bramall over Operation Midland
inquiry…

The head of the
Metropolitan Police has met privately with Lord Bramall, the former
chief of the defence staff investigated over unproven claims of a
historical VIP child sex abuse ring.

Scotland Yard
said Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe had expressed "regret" at distress felt
by the D-Day veteran for having his innocence called into
question.

The 92-year-old
was interviewed under caution in April 2015 but told in January no
action would be taken.

A review of the
probe is taking place.

Lord Bramall
was questioned in connection with Operation Midland, which was
wound up last month without any charges being brought.

It had been
established in November 2014 to examine claims made by a man known
only as Nick that boys had been abused by a group of powerful men
from politics, the military and law enforcement agencies in the
1970s and 1980s.

The
Metropolitan Police said Sir Bernard and Assistant Commissioner
Patricia

Gallan met Lord
Bramall on Thursday.

"Whilst the
content of that conversation will remain private, the Commissioner
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe expressed, in person, his regret about the
distress felt by Lord Bramall and his family, and the impact of
having his innocence publicly called into question after a long
career of public service," it said in a statement.

ANON Apr
11th, 2016 @ 11:22 PM

2/2...Retired High Court
Judge Sir Richard Henriques is examining the way the Met handles
cases involving claims of historical child abuse by public
figures.

Scotland Yard
said the commissioner had listened to Lord Bramall's concerns about
how the investigation had been carried out and these would be
considered during the review.

'Great
pressure'

A statement
issued on behalf of Lord Bramall said it had been a "useful
constructive meeting".

Sir Bernard, it
said, had assured Lord Bramall the Met would be taking urgent steps
to implement the recommendations of Sir Richard's
review.

It said Lord
Bramall looked forward to contributing to the review into the
investigation "with the aim of establishing whether it could or
should have been handled differently".

The statement
added: "Lord Bramall accepts these assurances and appreciates the
great pressure the Metropolitan Police have been
under."

Scotland Yard
has come under fire amid concerns it overreacted to the allegations
that prompted Operation Midland.

Speaking to MPs
on the Commons Home Affairs Committee in February,

Sir Bernard
expressed "regret" at the effect of the inquiry on Lord Bramall but
repeatedly refused to apologise.

He said people
questioned had needed to wait to be told about the outcome of the
case to allow police and the Crown Prosecution Service time to
complete their work

ANON Apr
11th, 2016 @ 11:18 PM

Kincora Boys
Home to remain part of Historical Institutional Abuse
inquiry…

Allegations of
child sexual abuse at Kincora Boys' Home in Belfast will remain
part of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry in
Northern Ireland, a judge has ruled.

An application
by a Kincora victim for a judicial review was dismissed by the High
Court in Belfast as "premature and misconceived".

The challenge
was taken by Gary Hoy against Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa
Villiers and the HIA inquiry.

A separate
independent review in England and Wales is led by Justice Lowell
Goddard.

Mr Hoy's
application alleged that members of the Army or security services
were complicit in the abuse.

There have
previously been allegations that MI5 was involved in covering up
abuse at the home that is now closed.

Last year, Home
Secretary Theresa May ruled out extending the national inquiry to
include Kincora.

Earlier, the
High Court judge said it was the HIA inquiry's intention to
"collate and make publicly available as much information as
possible about what occurred at Kincora".

After that, he
added, authorities will be in "the best position to determine
whether the UK government bears any further
obligation".

He said that
the HIA inquiry had pledged to examine whether the police, Army or
intelligence agencies "were responsible for systems failures that
caused, facilitated, or failed to prevent abuse at
Kincora".

The HIA was set
up in 2013 to investigate child abuse in residential institutions
in Northern Ireland over a 73-year period, up to 1995.

These included
a range of institutions, run by the church, state and voluntary
sector.

The Goddard
inquiry will investigate whether public bodies, such as the police,
NHS and BBC, failed in their duty of care to protect children from
sexual abuse.

ANON Apr
11th, 2016 @ 11:14 PM

1/2...Kincora Survivors
Fight Exclusion From Inquiry …

Survivors of a
Belfast home want it included in an inquiry looking at cases of
child sex abuse in England and Wales.

Survivors of a
notorious Belfast children's home have vowed to fight a court
decision that has blocked their attempts to be incorporated into
the Goddard Inquiry.

Currently the
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is limited to examining
what happened to children at institutions in England and
Wales.

A separate
inquiry centred on Northern Ireland - the Historical Institutional
Abuse Inquiry will examine Kincora but survivors of the home had
argued it doesn't have the powers needed to uncover the
truth.

Dozens of
children were sexually abused at Kincora in east Belfast through
the 60s and 70s by staff and visitors - one survivor has described
being trafficked to London to be further abused by VIPs linked to
Westminster.

Former resident
Richard Kerr, who now lives in the US, has previously revealed how
he was taken to the Dolphin Square apartment complex and Elm Guest
House in Barnes locations in London that have been linked to other
sexual abuse investigations.

Speaking after
the hearing in Belfast, Mr Kerr said: "I know 100% that the
intelligence services were involved in Kincora, I know it, I lived
it, I know what went on there.

"There are a
lot of secrets to come out. They are just trying to put a lid on it
so that it doesn't come out."

ANON Apr
11th, 2016 @ 11:11 PM

2/2...Along
with other survivors he has vowed to keep on fighting for full
disclosure of what happened.

He said: "I am
not going to let those boys be let down who took their lives. I
haven't forgotten them.

"It is not
about winning, it is about justice I'll do what it
takes."Kincora abuse
victim Richard Kerr speaks to the media watched by solicitor
Claire

Former Kincora
resident Richard Kerr speaking after the hearingIn court, Mr
Justice Treacy ruled that the application made by survivors was
"misconceived and premature" and said the inquiry in Northern
Ireland should be allowed to do its work.

He said: "The
HIA Inquiry has made plain that if there is any attempt to
frustrate its work it will not hesitate to say so, it will then
endeavour to obtain whatever powers it considers necessary to
resolve the matter."

Former British
Army intelligence officer Colin Wallace is one of many who believe
the Goddard Inquiry is the only forum in which the true extent of
the abuse at Kincora can be fully understood.

Mr Wallace
became suspicious about what was happening at the home while he was
serving with the military in Northern Ireland.

He was wrongly
convicted and jailed in 1981 after raising concerns about Kincora,
underlining his suspicions that there was a campaign to discredit
him.

He told Sky
News: "It could be that initially there was some low-level cover up
and then as people became more aware of who was involved ... that
it became almost a conveyor belt of cover up that there was never a
good time to get off that conveyor belt and put hands up and say
'we got it wrong'."

ANON Apr
8th, 2016 @ 07:40 PM

1/2...Rochdale men jailed
for 'appalling and vile' abuse…

Nine men who
committed sexual offences against eight girls and women have been
jailed for up to 25 years.

The men abused
their victims aged 13 to 22, mainly in Rochdale, Greater Manchester
between 2005 and 2010.

The principal
victim came forward after a number of men of mainly Pakistani
heritage were jailed in 2012 for grooming white girls in the
town.

A tenth man was
jailed for five-and-a-half years last September for sexual activity
with the girl.

The main
victim, who has a learning disability, was described in court as an
"extremely vulnerable young woman" who had endured "a very
difficult home life".

She gave
evidence in two separate trials, which lasted a total of 15
weeks.

She said
hundreds of men would ring her up wanting sex when she was aged
between 14 and 18.

No evidence was
put before the court that the men had acted as part of an organised
gang or that they all knew each other.

'Immense
bravery'...

Some of the
offenders gave their victims "alcohol or drugs as a way of
controlling or even incapacitating them", Alison Cartmell from the
Crown Prosecution Service said.

"Some used
violence and threats to intimidate and coerce them into having
sex," she added.

A spokeswoman
for the NSPCC described the crimes as "depraved and horrifying",
adding that one of the victims spoke of "the 'brilliant relief' she
felt in telling someone about her ordeal, so allowing her to move
on after many years of anguish".

Richard Scorer,
from law firm Slater and Gordon, which represents one of the
victims, said: "In 20 years of acting for victims in cases of this
nature, these are some of the most appalling, sadistic and vile
crimes that I have ever encountered."

ANON Apr
8th, 2016 @ 07:36 PM

2/2…'Emotionally
demanding'

Det Ch Insp
Jamie Daniels said: "This was an extremely complex case and I want
to commend the victims for the immense bravery they have
shown.

"The process
can be emotionally demanding and traumatic for the victims and we
do not underestimate the courage this took."

The convicted
offenders:

:: Afraz Ahmed,
33, of Oswald Street, Rochdale, jailed for a total of 25 years for
rape, conspiracy to rape and sexual activity with a child, in
relation to five underage victims

:: A
40-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, jailed for
23 years for rape and attempting to abduct a child in relation to
three victims he will serve an additional eight years on extended
licence when he is released

:: Choudry
Ikhalaq Hussein, 38, formerly of Mayfield Terrace, Rochdale, jailed
for 19 years in his absence for rape, sexual activity with a child
and conspiracy to rape. He is believed to have fled to Pakistan
during the trial

:: Rehan Ali,
27, of Cleethorpes Avenue, Blackley, jailed for seven years for
rape and sexual activity with a child

: :Kutab Miah,
35, of Ramsey Street, Rochdale, for nine years for for rape and
sexual activity with a child

:: Abid Khan,
39, of Whitney Road, Liverpool, jailed for six-and-a-half years for
sexual activity with a child

:: Mohammed
Zahid, 55, of Croxton Avenue, Rochdale, jailed for five years for
sexual activity with a child

:: Mohammed
Dauood, 38, of Leyland Road, Burnley, jailed for 16 years for
offences in relation to two victims, including rape, sexual
activity with a child and sexual assault

:: David Law,
46, of Colmanhay Road, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, jailed for 11 years
for conspiracy to rape§:: Mahfuz
Rahman, 29, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three counts of
sexual activity with a child was jailed for five-and-a-half years
last September.

ANON Apr
8th, 2016 @ 01:23 PM

1/2...Monk
jailed for abusing pupils at St Joseph's List D School in
Tranent…

A Catholic monk
who carried out a catalogue of abuse on pupils at an East Lothian
residential school during "a regime of fear" has been jailed for
seven years.

Michael Murphy,
82, was known as Brother Benedict at St Joseph's List D School in
Tranent.

He was
sentenced on Friday following a hearing before Lord Uist at the
High Court in Edinburgh.

He denied a
string of charges against but was found guilty on
Thursday.

A jury
convicted him of 15 charges of assault and indecent assault
involving eight boys over the decade up to 1981.

Murphy was
acquitted of a further two charges.

Electric
shocks...

Victims told
his trial Murphy had laughed when administering electric shocks to
boys.One boy had his
hands burned and another lapsed into unconsciousness.

One pupil was
locked in an unlit cupboard overnight and another was urinated on
by the De La Salle brother.

One 57-year-old
man told the High Court in Edinburgh: "Because of what happened to
me in there my children never went to a Catholic
school."

ANON Apr
8th, 2016 @ 01:20 PM

2/2...On
Friday, Lord Uist told Murphy that the imposition of a custodial
term was the only sentence available to him.

It emerged
Murphy had been convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh in
2003.

He was
convicted of 10 assaults on nine boys dating from the
1960s.

He picked on
boys who attended the St Ninian's List D school in Stirlingshire
during that decade.

Murphy was
jailed for two years for the crimes but the Court of Criminal
Appeal reduced his jail term to 12 months.

'No
remorse'Passing
sentence, Lord Uist added: "The crimes set out in charges 11, 12
and 14 consisted of particularly abhorrent and despicable sexual
abuse of two boys.

"In behaving as
you did you betrayed the trust reposed in you as a guardian of
those boys and flouted your religious calling.

"I do not know
what caused you to treat those boys, who have clearly all been
damaged to varying extents by what they suffered at your hands, in
such a cruel manner.

"Your continued
denial of these crimes shows that you have no remorse or
regret.

"It has taken a
long time for justice to catch up with you, but the day of
reckoning has now arrived."

Murphy, from
Hampshire, who trained as a social worker, had maintained his
innocence and told jurors: "As a matter of fact I should not be
here in this court at all.

I have done
nothing wrong in St Joseph's."

On Friday,
defence advocate Peter Ferguson QC said Murphy maintained he was
innocent of any wrong doing.

Lord Uist also
placed Murphy on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

ANON Apr
7th, 2016 @ 01:01 PM

1/2..Men who
fear they may abuse children taking part in Swedish drug study to
reduce sex drive…

Drugs normally
used to treat prostate cancer are now being tried on men who are
worried they could go on to abuse children.

A ground
breaking study in Sweden is looking at whether the medicine reduces
the sex drive in volunteers, which is one of its effects when used
in cancer treatment.

The drug
therapy reduces levels of the male hormone
testosterone.

Anders not his
real name is involved in the research and said: "Hopefully is will
take my mind of these things so I don’t have to be so frustrated
and moiserable."

Around the
world, drugs are widely used to suppress the urges of sex
offenders.

But the Swedish
scientists are taking the controversial further step of looking at
whether men in the general population who are worried about their
sexual urges can successfully be treated to prevent them committing
crimes.

They also hope
to pinpoint "biomarkers" tell-tale substances in the blood or brain
wiring patterns - that mark out individuals who could pose a danger
to children.

The researchers
stress that if such biomarkers are found, there is no question of
them being used to conduct population screening for
paedophiles.

However they
could help psychiatrists or prison governors decide if certain
individuals can safely be allowed near children, or who might
benefit from a drug treatment.

ANON Apr
7th, 2016 @ 12:57 PM

2/2...Dr
Christoffer Rahm, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who
heads the "Priotab" project, said: "One in 10 boys and one in 20
girls is sexually abused during childhood.

This issue is
hard to deal with but we must, because it affects all of
us.

"Child sexual
abuse causes a lot of suffering for the victims and their relatives
it also has negative consequences for the perpetrator, who risks
becoming totally isolated, depressed and sentenced to
imprisonment.

"Up until now
most of the attention has been on how to deal with perpetrators
while they're protected by the police or by the authorities, but by
this stage children have already been harmed.

"With this
research project, I want to shift focus and explore methods of
preventing child sexual abuse from happening in the first
place."

Dr Rahm said a
"handful" of men with paedophilic tendencies none of whom had been
convicted of any offence had already been recruited by his team
through a Swedish help line for people who fear their sexual
appetites are out of control.

They were
taking part in a study testing the effectiveness of degarelix, a
prostate cancer drug that blocks signals from the brain that switch
on production of testosterone. The male hormone is known to fuel
the disease.

The aim is to
compare 30 men receiving the drug with 30 others given a "dummy"
placebo treatment.

The scientists
want to see if the drug can help the volunteers keep their sexual
urges in check without causing unacceptable side
effects.

Three days
after receiving an injection of degarelix, 97% of treated men have
almost no detectable levels of testosterone in their blood. Unlike
some other hormone treatments, the drug does not cause an initial
"flare" that actually boosts levels of testosterone.

"The hypothesis
we are testing is that this medicine has a clinically significant
risk-reducing effect," said Dr Rahm.

The Swedish
scientists acknowledge that the research involves serious ethical
issues which will be explored as part of the project.

ANON Apr
7th, 2016 @ 12:54 PM

Baby
memorial after infant's plot sold by Limerick Diocese…

A memorial is
to be unveiled next week for babies whose resting place was
disturbed when the Diocese of Limerick sold the area known as the
Infant’s Plot for adult graves.

Phil and Paul
Walsh lost baby William when he was delivered close to six months
into Phil’s pregnancy in December 1971.

“I went to
visit the plot and I couldn’t believe what I saw.

There were
adult graves where the Innocents Plot used to be,” Mrs Walsh told
the Limerick Post.

The couple made
inquiries and a gravedigger confirmed the bodies of the babies, who
were stillborn or who died before birth, had been moved to make way
for adult graves and “buried down deep”.

There were no
records of how many babies were buried in the plot. After the
couple contacted the Limerick Post and it contacted the diocese,
Bishop Brendan Leahy began an inquiry which unveiled the extent of
the problem.

The diocese
confirmed that it had sold the section of the burial
grounds.

Now a memorial
plaque, commissioned by the diocese, has been placed near the
location of the plot with the inscription: “This stone is dedicated
to all who died before, during and after birth, and to all united
in the loss of a child, whether recent or long ago. Loving God,
ever caring and gentle, cradle these children in your
love”.

It will be
unveiled and blessed in conjunction with the official opening of
the cemetery extension at Mount St Lawrence.

Mrs Walsh said
that it has been an emotional journey but they were glad to have
brought the matter to light.

“We’re very
pleased that the burial of the children has been recognised at
last. It’s very important for all the families
involved.

We’ll be at the
blessing but now that we know the plaque is there, we go and
visit,” she said.

The couple was
involved with choosing the inscription and the siting of the
stone.Bishop Leahy
said: “We’re very thankful to Phil and Paul, who brought a very
legitimate concern to our attention. I certainly wasn’t aware of it
before.”

ANON Apr
6th, 2016 @ 12:35 PM

Wisteria
Lodge: West Midlands Police admits abuse inquiry
failings…

A police force
has admitted it did not properly investigate a victim's account of
sex abuse at children's homes.

It meant two
alleged perpetrators died before they could be
prosecuted.

West Midlands
Police upheld a complaint made by the victim, who has asked to be
called Sarah, and said at least one would have been
charged.

The victim said
the abuse at homes in Coventry in the 1980s was "horrendous", but
added she was encouraged by the change in police
investigations.

Two care
workers were jailed in February following a subsequent police
investigation.

Alan Todd and
Kenneth Owen, both 70, worked at Wisteria Lodge, which was run by
Coventry City Council, during the 1980s.

Sarah, who
described herself as having been a "challenging child", was a
resident at Wisteria Lodge and was physically and mentally abused
by the men.

She spent time
at other homes in the city in the 1980s, and told BBC Coventry
& Warwickshire she had been abused by two other care workers,
both whom are now dead. She said one of the workers had raped
her.

After breaking
down in 1999 and confessing to her mother what had happened, Sarah
went to police.

But after no
action was taken, she went back in 2012 and lodged a second
complaint.

The force has
now upheld that complaint and admitted several flaws in its
original investigation.

In a written
report from its professional standards department to Sarah, who has
shared it with the BBC, the force said it had been "poorly managed
and poorly supervised".

It said if
named witnesses had been traced, the likelihood of a prosecution
against one or both of the now-deceased suspects "may have been
more positive".

ANON Apr
6th, 2016 @ 12:30 PM

2/2...The
investigating officer failed to record all inquiries he made and
there was a lack of oversight from his senior officers, the report
said.

Sarah was not
fully believed and the officer's judgement "appeared cloudy", the
professional standards inquiry found.

As a result of
her 2012 complaint, West Midlands Police reopened a criminal
investigation into abuse at Wisteria Lodge, which led to other
victims coming forward and the subsequent convictions of Todd and
Owen.

"It was
horrendous," Sarah said of the abuse. "I was 12 years old... [I
thought], 'how are they getting away with this'? 'Why aren't other
people stopping this'?"

Detectives are
also now investigating several people who have worked in a
professional capacity with children, including at residential
children's homes managed by Coventry City Council.

West Midlands
Police said this latest inquiry was being managed by specialist
staff within a sexual offences team. The force said it would not
comment further at this stage.

The council is
starting its own internal inquiry and has asked the local
safeguarding board to carry out a review.

John Gregg,
director of children's services, said he wanted to apologise to
victims and reassure them things had changed.

"Given the
severity of what's taken place, there's very little I can say that
wouldn't sound hollow.

"I recognise
the failings that have taken place and, as a council, we are
committed to righting those wrongs."

Sarah said she
wanted to praise police and the changes they had made to the way
they investigate abuse claims.

"I think they
have been open and transparent and they've looked at
themselves."

ANON Apr
6th, 2016 @ 11:37 AM

Men abused
by swimming coach settle court action…

Gerard Doyle
jailed in 2012 for 35 sex-related offences against
children

Four men who
were sexually abused as children by former Olympic swimming coach
Gerard Doyle have settled their High Court actions on undisclosed
terms.

The four had
sued both Doyle and New Ross Town Council, as Doyle’s employer as a
swimming coach at New Ross Swimming Pool in Co
Wexford.

After several
hours of talks on Tuesday, David McGrath SC told Mr Justice Anthony
Barr the cases against the council were all settled and could be
struck out.

The action
against Doyle could also be struck out, counsel said.

The court heard
judgment was entered against Doyle last November in default of
defence and the case against him was for assessment of damages
only.

The four
plaintiffs sued in relation to the sexual abuse which took place on
different dates in the 1980s and 1990s.

Doyle (52), a
former national and Olympic swimming coach of Ard Alainn, Wexford
Street, New Ross, was sentenced to six and half years in prison in
July 2012 after being convicted of 35 sex-related offences against
children committed over a decade.

Doyle had
pleaded not guilty at Kilkenny Circuit Criminal Court to one charge
of sexual assault and 34 charges of indecent assault.

The offences
took place at New Ross Swimming Pool between January 1981 and
December 1993 when Doyle was manager of New Ross Swimming Club and
manager of the pool.

After a
five-day trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict on the sexual
assault charge and 34 indecent assault charges.

Doyle had
previously been convicted of the offences at Wexford Circuit
Criminal Court and was sentenced to six and half years in prison
but a re-trial was ordered following an appeal to the High
Court.

In their High
Court cases against Doyle and New Ross Town Council, the four men
claimed that there was a failure on behalf of the council to
prevent them being subjected to sexual abuse.

They also
alleged failure to ensure Doyle was a competent and suitbale person
to interact with young persons.

It was further
claimed there was failure to remove Doyle or relieve him from his
duties when they knew, or ought to have known, of his sexual
proclivities.The claims were
denied.

ANON Apr
5th, 2016 @ 12:52 PM

1/2...Genette Tate murder
file against Robert Black submitted to CPS…

A file of
evidence against a man suspected of murdering a schoolgirl almost
40 years ago has been submitted to prosecutors, the BBC has
learnt.

Robert Black
who died in prison in January - killed four young girls and was
believed to have murdered 13-year-old Genette Tate in Devon in
1978.

Devon and
Cornwall Police said the file runs to "scores of
pages".

Genette's body
has not been found since she vanished while delivering evening
newspapers in Aylesbeare, near Exeter.

Her case is
believed to be the longest running missing person inquiry in
Britain.

Black,
originally from Grangemouth in Scotland, was first convicted of
sexual assault when he was a teenager and the delivery driver's
murder victims came from Northern Ireland, England and
Scotland.

He was
convicted for killing Jennifer Cardy, nine, of County Antrim in
1981, Susan Maxwell, 11, of Northumberland in 1982, and Caroline
Hogg, five, of Edinburgh in 1983 and Sarah Harper, 10, of Leeds, in
1986.

Black died of
natural causes in Maghaberry prison, Northern Ireland.A senior Devon
and Cornwall Police source told the BBC: "We would like a clear
statement that it [Crown Prosecution Service] would have charged
Black with Genette's murder.

"It's the
closest we can now get to justice and might offer some comfort to
her family and the community."

The new file is
the result of two years of work by a dedicated group of eight
detectives including some who worked on the original inquiry from
the force's Major Crime Team.

But, John Tate,
Genette's father, said: "It's a shame this file was not submitted
earlier to the CPS.

"There was some
talk of it being submitted last autumn, then the CPS would have had
several months to decide whether to prosecute Black.

"That would
have meant that Black would have died in January knowing that he
was going to put on trial for Genette's murder."

The BBC has
been told the detectives found two new witnesses following a
re-investigation of the case, including an examination of the
thousands of files from the original investigation.

They have been
re-interviewed at length, senior police sources said, and have
"strengthened the circumstantial case against Black".

The witnesses'
evidence "concerns Black's behaviour" at the time she disappeared,
the sources added.

Black, who was
serving a life sentence for the murders of four children, was
arrested and questioned in 2005 over the Genette Tate case, but not
charged.

The force sent
a file to the CPS, but three years later it decided there was
insufficient evidence to charge Black.

He denied any
involvement in Genette's disappearance.

ANON Apr
5th, 2016 @ 12:32 PM

Hundred
interviewed in historical school abuse inquiry…

More than 100
alleged victims have been interviewed following claims of
historical abuse at three schools in Gloucestershire and
Wiltshire.

Former pupils
at Badgeworth Court, Dowdeswell and Clouds House said they were
subjected to "horrific" abuse in the 1970s and 1980s.

Det Ch Insp
Jeremy Carter said he wanted any others to come
forward.Staff who
worked at the schools have "categorically denied" any involvement
in abusing pupils.

Det Ch Insp
Carter, of the Brunel Major Crime Unit, said early discussions had
taken place with the Crown Prosecution Service over potential
charges.

"I'm absolutely
confident that we will be able to take information... that will
enable them to make a decision regarding this case," he
said.

Campaigner Roy
Messenger said: "It seems to me like tomorrow, tomorrow - always
getting the carrot in front of you and we will keep on chasing it
which isn't really good for the victims."

The former
owner of the schools, Anthony Hurley, appeared in court in 2000 on
allegations of cruelty and sexual abuse of children, but was deemed
unfit to stand trial.

He died in
2003.

The
investigation is being led by officers from the force's major crime
team

ANON Apr
5th, 2016 @ 12:30 PM

Former
Salvation Army volunteer, 83, jailed for child rape

An 83-year-old
man, who worked with the Salvation Army, has been jailed for seven
years for raping a girl under 13.

James Summers,
formerly of Lyndene Road, Didcot, was found guilty after a
week-long trial at Oxford Crown Court.

He was
convicted of two counts of raping a girl under 13 and two counts of
indecent assault on a female.

The crimes
happened between 1995 and 2000 and he is already serving an 18-year
prison sentence for six counts of rape dating back to the
1980s.

'Used his
position'

Summers was
originally convicted in 2012 and he carried out all his offences in
Didcot.

Det Con Tania
Wasilewski-Norman, from Thames Valley Police, said he used to be
well-known in the area for his work in the Salvation
Army.

She said: "[He]
used that position of trust to gain access to his young victims and
subsequently sexually abused them.

"Both of the
victims in this case, who are now adults, have shown great bravery
in coming forward."

The Salvation
Army has been contacted for comment.

ANON Apr
5th, 2016 @ 12:28 PM

Young
children getting help for suicidal thoughts…

Children as
young as five are receiving help for suicidal thoughts, the founder
of a new counselling service has revealed.

Teach Tom, a
community initiative in Kilkenny, was established less than two
months ago to provide immediate support to individuals and families
either affected by or contemplating suicide.

The voluntary
group which works in conjunction with Taxi Watch, a local suicide
surveillance system run by cab drivers said it had been shocked by
the number of young children referred to it since the service
opened in mid-February.

Angela Hayes,
the charity’s founder, said: “We’ve had children as young as five
or six using the service, up to 16-year-olds.

The parents
just can’t manage. They don’t know what’s going on with their
children. It would take up to a year to see a professional
psychologist through the system, so we can provide free and
immediate care.”

In an interview
on TV3’s Sunday AM, Angela, a mother of four, reflected on her own
experience of suicide, losing both her husband Tom and son Thomas,
19, in recent years.

Many of the
people she helps at Teac Tom are referred to her by Taxi Watch, a
suicide surveillance service set up in November 2014 in Kilkenny,
which has since been rolled out in other towns and
cities.

Derek Devoy,
40, who founded the service after suffering a long bout of
depression, said he believes at least 92 lives have been saved
through the initiative, which has the backing of 16 taxi drivers in
Kilkenny alone.

Reflecting on
his own experience of depression following surgery after a car
accident a number of years ago, he said: “I wasn’t able to leave my
bedroom for eight months.

I hid it from
everyone, including my wife. I used to get dressed for work and
dress the kids for school, but once the kids had gone I’d take my
clothes off and get back in bed for the day. I’d get up at 5.50pm
before my wife came home and pretend everything was OK, but of
course it wasn’t.”

Derek said a
decision he made to visit his GP, after which he received
counselling, saved his life and encouraged him to set up Taxi
Watch, for which he received specialist tr

specialist
training from the HSE. He and his colleagues now routinely patrol
risk areas in Kilkenny.